Tag Archives: food

Pink, purple, and blue flowers with green leaves.

6 Things I Learned in March and April 2019

Things I Learned, , , , ,

It’s finally feeling like spring here– in my body and out in the world.

So taking inspiration from Modern Mrs. Darcy, here’s a list of things I learned in the last two months.  

1. I have to kick FOMO to the curb. Yeah, JOMO has been part of the social vernacular for a while, but I’ve only truly started to work on becoming a fan of the Joy of Missing Out recently. I don’t have the spoons to do everything I need to do, let alone want to do, so why not pick a few things and celebrate those?

2. Knoxville has a welcoming LGBTQ+ community. That’s not to say it’s thriving like Toronto or NYC, but it’s doing just fine, thank you very much, — especially in certain parts of town; I wish I’d had more time to explore.

Be sure to check out Wild Love Bakehouse. The cafe miel is delicious, and the pastries are flakey, but the gay friendly atmosphere is what I love best about the place. My boyfriend and I went for breakfast and ended up staying for hours because we made new friends.

3. Old Bay tastes amazing on cheddar popcorn. And a lot of other things. According to this meme on their official Instagram, I’m very Maryland, especially for a Canadian. How about you?

4. We forget more of what we read, than we think we do [The Atlantic]. Keep of a book of books, or “Bob” to help you remember. Says Pamela Paul, “Bob offers immediate access to where I’ve been, psychologically and geographically, at any given moment in my life… Each entry conjures a memory that may have otherwise gotten lost or blurred with time.”

5. Always put verbs in to do lists to make your list more motivating and less overwhelming. I learned this from a podcast Sarah Von Bargen was on, and I wish I could remember which one it was. She also says to measure progress on your to do list, not just how fast tasks are completed.

6. If I’m having a rough self esteem day, it helps to listen to music that pumps me up and lifts my spirits. Drop-dead Knockout by Sinclair is my absolute favourite lately. They’re a queer artist from upstate New York who opened for Kacey Musgraves on select dates of her Oh What a World tour, and I had the pleasure of meeting Sinclair in Knoxville. One of the highlights of my trip, for sure!


Listen to Drop-Dead Knockout by Sinclair here.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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What have you learned this spring?

5 Must-Taste Regional Foods

Travel, ,

tarte au sucre

There’s just something special about digging in to a dish you know you can’t get anywhere else.

These are 5 of my favourite regional foods. Share yours in the comment below!

1. Tarte au sucre. Also known as sugar pie (pictured), this Quebecois dessert is a single crust pie with a filling of maple syrup, butter and cream. It is very sweet and unbelievably rich!

2. Garlic fingers. Atlantic Canada’s ultimate comfort food. Garlic fingers start out pizza-shaped and are sliced into ‘fingers’; rectangles of garlicky, cheese-covered goodness. Apparently these are also popular in Wisconsin!

3. New York cheesecake. Sure, you can get New York-style cheesecake is “pure, unadulterated cheesecake with no fancy ingredients added either to the cheesecake or placed on top of it”. But who needs fancy when pure tastes this good?! The cake practically melts in your mouth. Bet you’ll ask for seconds!

4. Butter tarts. You can’t visit Ontario, Canada without tasting a butter tart (or two, or three…). Similar to pecan pie, but with a runnier consistency and a hint of maple, butter tarts sometimes contain pecans, walnuts or raisins, but they’re amazing au naturel, too. This dessert was common in pioneer cooking and has definitely stood the test of time. Now you can find butter tarts in packs of 6 at national grocery chains like Metro, but the best ones are found at local bakeries in Ontario.

5. Fried chicken. The American deep south’s gift to the world. No description needed!

What’s your favourite regional dish?